Down a New Path
by QRTYWE
Summary: An AU based on The Next Step. Neither Kingston nor Lola are enjoying dancing anymore. Will transferring to TNS help cure this depression?


Prologue

 _Ring-ring! Ring-ring!_

 _"Ugh.."_ , Lola thought as she woke up to the sound of her alarm, feeling extremely sleepy. Then her eyes widened as she remembered where she was supposed to be going today: The Next Step, a dance studio downtown. After looking at the time, she panicked, since her phone read 8:30 am. _"Crap, I have to be there at 9!",_ shethought frantically. She shot out of bed, went through my morning routine, and hurried downstairs to have a quick breakfast.

"Good morning, honey!". That was her mom, Muriel, who had set out a pretty large spread for breakfast. _"Damn, why did I have to be late today of all days?",_ shethought while simultaneously pouting and reaching for a piece of toast.

"You know, I'm not going to stop you, but I really don't get why you wanted to leave Encore Dance just because you felt a little depressed. You were the dance captain!", Muriel exclaimed.

Lola sighed, fully expecting my mom to say something like this. Fortunately though, she didn't have to reply, because she really had to go at that point. "Sorry mom, I have to go. I'll see you later!", she yelled, practically sprinting out the door.

As she jogged to the studio, the words my mom said kept ringing in her head. Her mom actually did have a point; most people wouldn't leave a studio, especially while holding the prestigious title of dance captain, just because they were depressed. But she knew she couldn't stay there. She dances because of several reasons, but most of all because she has fun doing it, and that wasn't happening at Encore. Why was that? Because she had no friends there. Lola didn't know whether it was herself, or her teammates, but she just could not make friends to save her life, and she couldn't motivate myself to dance in an environment where she felt so alone. So after a few months of obtaining the dance captain position, she stopped going to Encore.

That didn't exactly solve the problem though, since Lola didn't know what other studio she could go to. After all, she didn't want to waste money at another studio only to find out that she was incapable of enjoying myself there too. That, on top of the fact that Lola's parents weren't exactly thrilled with her choice to leave Encore, left her in a pretty bad mood until a few weeks ago, which was when she found out about TNS. By watching interviews given by different team members, it became pretty obvious that most people at that studio shared a close bond with each other. Lola thought that if she joined TNS, she could be a part of such a close group, and could enjoy herself while dancing.

Finally, Lola reached the building where the studio was located. Panting slightly, she headed inside, determined to get through the audition so that she could regain her passion for dance that had been missing for nearly 10 years.

* * *

 _"What the hell is going on?",_ Kingston asked himself. He had finally mastered the trick he'd been trying to perfect for the last few days. He should have been excited, and yet he wasn't, which surprised him. Usually he would be jumping around for at least a couple minutes, celebrating the mastering of a dance move. Now, Kingston felt deflated after only a few minutes. And it wasn't just today, this had been going on for a while. What was happening?

"Hey, I brought you some lemonade!". That voice belonged to my sister Ariel. Her voice just made Kingston feel more confused though, because her praise usually gets him feeling even more thrilled. However, he just felt a little gratitude this time, which _really_ confused him.

Kingston gave her a small smile. "Thanks sis."

She cocked her head at me, one eyebrow raised. "What's wrong? Shouldn't you be climbing up that tree to jump out of it by now?". Yes, Kingston's done that before. Everybody thought it was a strange habit. No, he did not care.

Kingston sighed, taking one of the glasses on the tray Ariel was holding. "I know! I don't know what's wrong with me!".

She then gave me a sympathetic smile. "I think I know what's happening." She sat down on one of the chairs we had in our lawn. "You're lonely!"

Kingston looked at her, surprised. "What do you mean? I have plenty of friends, and I hang with them all the time. How could I be lonely?"

Ariel then proceeded to give him an incredulous look. "Seriously Kingston? You may have friends, but none of them can dance. You've been doing this alone for what, ten years? I'm surprised it took you this long to get bored of your life."

Kingston looked at her, speechless. She was on to something. As much as he loved dance, it would be even more exciting if he could dance with other people. Competing and interacting with them could be just what Kingston needed to break out of his funk.

She then pulled out her laptop and started blabbing happily. "I knew I might have this talk with you soon, so I started looking up dance studios you can go to, and I found this great one called The Next Step, and it's amazing, they won some sort of world championship a while back, and they all look like they have fun there, if their interviews and dances are anything to go by, and if you can make it through the audition-"

"Holy shit, hold up," Kingston couldn't believe she teases me for being childish when she talks like this so often. "How could I fit in at a prestigious studio like that? Everyone there has probably had years of professional dance training. I'll always be behind everyone."

Ariel looked up and smirked at him, a teasing look present in her eyes. "Ohhh? What's this? I didn't think my baby brother was such a chicken."

"WHAT?!" Kingston exploded. "I'm not a chicken! And I'm not your baby brother either! I'll go to the studio, and I'll become the best dancer there!

"Okay then, I'll sign you up for the audition. Don't forget it's in a couple weeks, so work extra hard until then!" Ariel grinned, knowing that her reverse psychology plan had worked.

Kingston sighed, knowing he'd just been played by his sister. " _Oh well, even if I'm behind everyone else for a while, I'll catch up eventually, and sis is right – I need to be around other people if I want dancing to keep being something I want to do,"_ Kingston mentally reasoned.

"Alright then, I guess I'm going to The Next Step!"

* * *

 **Well, that's the prologue. If you haven't figured it out yet, Lola and Kingston are going to be the main characters for this fanfic. I hope this chapter got your attention and look forward to the next chapter, which should be coming out in the next few days!**


End file.
